Mariss Jansons & Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra Returning to Carnegie Hall, 4/19-20

Chief conductor Mariss Jansons leads the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium in two programs that confirm Jansons's standing as one of today's leading interpreters of symphonic repertoire. The first concert on Tuesday, April 19 at 8:00 pm features Dvo?ák's Symphony No. 8 in G major, Op. 88, Korngold's Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35, with soloist Leonidas Kavakos, and Corigliano's Fantasia on an Ostinato. The second program on Wednesday, April 20 at 8:00 pm consists of a single work: Shostakovich's Symphony No. 7, "Leningrad," a work with which Mariss Jansons has a special affinity and a composer with whose music he is particularly identified. The appearances at Carnegie Hall are part of a six-city tour that includes Washington, D.C., Chicago, Montreal, Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Chapel Hill, North Carolina. These performances by the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra with Mariss Jansons mark the Orchestra's first return to the United States since its appearances at Carnegie Hall in May 2014.

The Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra tour coincides with the release of the orchestra's new recording of Dvo?ák's Symphony No. 8 in G major, Op. 88, on April 8 on BR-Klassik, the Bavarian Radio's CD label. This CD album, recorded live in January 2016 in Munich at the Philharmonie am Gasteig, includes Dvo?ák's Carnival Overture, Op. 92, as well as the Serenade for Strings by Josef Suk. The Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra's extensive discography, along with the Bavarian Radio Choir and led by Mariss Jansons, encompasses another large-scale Dvo?ák work: the magisterial Stabat Mater, Op. 58. The Stabat Mater recording follows additional, recent issues by the Orchestra and Jansons, Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades (Pique Dame) and a CD that pairs Stravinsky's Petrushka and Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition. Other recent releases include a recording of Wagner's "Rheingold" conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, Beethoven's "Missa Solemnis" under Bernard Haitink and Mahler's Symphony No 1 conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

Since assuming the position of Chief Conductor of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in 2003, Mariss Jansons has shaped an orchestra critically admired for its burnished sound, clarity, finesse, and exuberance. About the orchestra's 2006 appearance at Carnegie Hall, the New York Times noted, "By now the record is indisputable. The conductor Mariss Jansons is one of the best orchestra builders around....he has energized and lifted the players...The playing was always musical and expressive, but never indulgent or mawkish. Overlapping contrapuntal lines were projected with utter clarity. Mr. Jansons has a characteristic way of shopping a phrase so that even a line in the violins tapes off, decreasing in volume, the sound increases in nervous intensity." Also in remarks about the orchestra's sound, The Telegraph reported, "There's something refreshing in the way Jansons refuses to micro-manage the players, preferring to bring forth by some subtle empathy their own musicality. ...the overall sound was gorgeously refulgent."

Acclaimed for his interpretations of 19th-century and 20th-century repertoire, the April tour offers opportunity for North American audiences to hear Mariss Jansons and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in performances of symphonies by Dvo?ák, Mahler, and Shostakovich. Maestro Jansons's recording of the Shostakovich symphonic cycle, completed in 2005 with several orchestras, including the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, is considered a standard among recent recorded collections. In February 2006, Jansons's CD album of Shostakovich's 13th Symphony won a GRAMMY in the category "Best Orchestral Performance." He has received ECHO Klassik awards including "Conductor of the Year" in 2007, and "Best Recording of the Year" in 2008 for his recording of Béla Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra and The Miraculous Mandarin, as well as the Suite No. 2 from Ravel's Daphnis et Chloé. The Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under Mr. Jansons won a 2010 ECHO-Klassik "Orchestra of the Year" award for their recording of Bruckner's 7th Symphony.

Leonidas Kavakos, who appears with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra on its North American tour, is recognized throughout the world as one of the leading violinists of his generation and an artist of rare quality, admired for his virtuosity, superb musicianship, and the integrity of his playing. During the 2015-16 season, Mr. Kavakos appears in recital in Italy, Spain, and Germany; as well as soloist with the Orchestre National de Lyon, Orchestre de Paris, New York Philharmonic, Dallas Symphony, and the Vienna Philharmonic, with whom he also appears as conductor; and in chamber music with cellist Gautier Capuçon and pianist Nikolai Lugansky in the United Kingdom, Germany, and Russia. In addition, this season he plays at the Verbier, White Nights, Edinburgh International, Tanglewood, and Annecy Classical festivals, and gives performances of the complete Beethoven Sonatas at the Dresden Musikfestspiele.

Mariss Jansons ranks among the outstanding podium personalities of our time. His orchestral work is recognized not only for his busy touring activities but also for his worldwide television and radio broadcasts worldwide, and for his extensive discography. Mr. Jansons has been Chief Conductor of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Choir since 2003, succeeding Eugen Jochum, Rafael Kubelík, Sir Colin Davis, and Lorin Maazel as the orchestra's fifth Chief Conductor. He saved as Chief Conductor of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam from 2004 until 2015.

As Chief Conductor, Mariss Jansons has led a number of critically acclaimed concerts with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra at home and abroad. Mr. Jansons and the orchestra make regular appearances in the most important musical capitals of the world including New York, London, Tokyo, Vienna, Berlin, Amsterdam, Paris, Madrid, Zurich, and Brussels, among other cities, as well as at such festivals as Salzburg, Lucerne, the London Proms, Edinburgh Festival, Berlin Festival, among others. The Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Choir, under Mariss Jansons, is invited annually to serve as Orchestra in Residence at the Easter Festival in Lucerne.

From 1979 to 2000, Mr. Jansons was Chief Conductor of the Oslo Philharmonic, which he shaped into a top international orchestra. He also served as Principal Guest Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra (1992-1997) and Music Director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (1997-2004). He embarked on several tours to the most important music centers with his orchestras in Oslo and Pittsburgh, and made regular visits to the festivals in Salzburg, Lucerne, and the London Proms, among others.

Mr. Jansons has successfully collaborated with all the major orchestras, among them the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony, the Boston Symphony, the Israel Philharmonic, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Tonhalle Orchestra in Zurich and the Dresden Staatskapelle. Of particular significance are his collaborations with the Vienna and Berlin Philharmonic Orchestras. Mr. Jansons has conducted these orchestras regularly in Vienna and Berlin as well as on tour throughout Europe, the United States and Japan. He is also a regular guest artist at the Salzburg Festival.

Born in 1943 in the Latvian capital of Riga, Mariss Jansons grew up in the Soviet Union as the son of conductor Arvids Jansons. He studied violin, viola, and piano and graduated with honors from the Leningrad Conservatory with a degree in conducting. He continued his studies in Vienna with Hans Swarowsky and in Salzburg with Herbert von Karajan.